The lab-on-a-chip revolution has produced a number of innovations that herald a new age of portable field instruments and point of care diagnostics. Micro total analysis systems (αTAS) incorporate a variety of traditional material such as glass and silicone, but other materials are now being widely adopted, such as ceramics and sapphire, as well as polymers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), and cyclic olefins. Many functional components for these miniaturized devices have been developed for biological testing including homogenizers, cell disruptors, antigen binders, laser detectors, heaters, electrophoretic separators, mobility analyzers etc. and there is a trend toward self-contained disposable chips for clinical use.
Less development has occurred in the area of micropumps, with many devices still being driven by external traditional peristaltic pumps or syringes. Development has occurred for piezoelectric, lithographic, ferromagnetic fluid, acoustic wave, and polymeric pumps, but there is still large room for improvement in terms of a component-based chip technology. In such technology, pumps can be manufactured along with the chips and placed throughout the chip architecture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,179 issued to Jokela describes a magnetostrictive peristaltic pump using Terfenol-D material, which can be made to expand directionally in the presence of a magnetic field. However, Jokela uses electric coils with positive and the negative terminals connected to a signal generator to expand the Terfenol-D material longitudinally and move fluid through the device. The Jokela pump is not adapted to provide the desirable features of micropumps.